TOLAF of a journey
by BladeVoyage
Summary: Ben is one of very few survivors. Traveling with companions and friends, they must get to TOLAF before it's too late. But it's not going to be easy. They're going to have to make some hard decisions along the way. Some, even on the brink of life and death. WARNING: Curse words used throughout. References to: Drugs, Sex and harmful behavior in future chapters.
1. TOLAF 1: The origin

The thriving fires latched onto my trousers. My vision - still blurred from the attack moments ago- disrupted my ability to maintain a steady walk. The smell of dried blood filled the area around us.

With a companion to my left - still bruised from the attack, she hunched forward revealing the fresh scars that struck her back. To my right lay a motionless body, a friend. He had perished during the attack, not only killing one, but many. The greatest attack we had faced yet. The one that had consumed so many lives. The one which had left so much physical and emotional pain. The memorable nightmares would never vanquish, they would haunt me for as long as I live. Or as long as I die.

The journey of TOLAF would never be over. But for now. It surely was.


	2. TOLAF 2 : The beginning of the end

The halls of McKinley were dense. Hundreds of students departed and arrived from class doors either side of me. Ashleigh - to my right - paced beside me on our way to next period, Math.

Behind followed Blaine and Kurt - continuously talking about the outfits they had witnessed in the latest Vogue magazine. In front lead Ryder and Jake, them too, engrossed in a conversation - this one however being on the topic of Marley.

Ashleigh - with her shoulder high brownish blonde hair, small nose, and slim body figure - walked evenly with my footsteps holding three books. I however carried none, only a small pencil case in my small backpack and a can of Mountain Dew.

The jibber-jabber from students expanded through the hall ways from all around and yet Ashleigh and I still managed to maintain a thoughtful conversation about how crap Math is.

"We could always ditch Math and go to the mall" This suggestion arose from Ashleigh.

I exchanged a look with Blaine saying _Another brilliant idea from Ashleigh. _He returned this with a brief laugh and a daunting look to Kurt which said _I'm not flirting!_

The six of us continued our descent through the halls and after an abrupt conversation between us we decided, Math would be replaced by a quick run to the Ohio Mall.

Several minuted passed before the bell for the next period sounded. In moments, the filled alley ways had been reduced to only six. _Well _at least thats the number I thought.

However there were not six. There was six and a half.

It was Blaine who turned to face the terror first, followed by Kurt and finally by the rest of the group. Far down the corridor - next to the entrance to History - lay a half, scorched, male body with one eye. Using both its hands, the deformation pulled itself towards us, groaning at every motion. It's face looked as if it had been burnt recently and the body only went down to the waist. Behind the body, the floors were painted red with blood. Flowing from the inside of the body that was dragging itself slowly towards us. The monstrosity looked more like a brown skeleton, with parts of meat sticking to the bones like a left over chicken.

The six of us stood in shock staring forward at the zombie like figure. Without realizing how much time had passed, the monster was now meters away from Kurt.

"What is that thing?" Kurt questioned as he took three steps towards it.

Nobody responded, the only motion in the corridor was Kurt pacing toward the pulling figure.

"Stay away from it Kurt!" Blaine warned. However Kurt denied to respond to Blaine and continued forward.

Just before I once more warned Kurt, the thing on the floor suddenly pulled itself forward grabbing Kurt by the ankles.

After an abrupt, high pitched yelp from Kurt, the monster bit into Kurt's leg ripping flesh from his bone. And straight after pulled itself forward once more and dug its teeth into Kurts cheek.

Seconds later, Kurt had half his face and leg missing. Blaine was screaming for help. Jake and Ryder pounced forward and ripped the cannibal from Kurt, throwing it several meters down the hallway.

After a minute of silence, and surprisingly no rescue, Ryder approached Kurt with caution.

Silence filled the air.

It was then Ryder looked up at us with a haunting look on his face. Then he whispered the impossible. The unthinkable.

"Kurts dead"


	3. TOLAF 3: An escape worth many

Nobody answered Ryder. Nobody even took a breath. It was only the tears that draped from Blaine's eyes that caused a sound - the teardrops demolishing the floor.

Ryder got up and proceeded towards Jake. It was not clear to what had just happened, it had all occurred so swiftly and quick.

In seconds, we had all come across something which was not human, Kurt was dead, and the cannibal pulling itself toward us was narrowing the free distance every second. Ashleigh dropped her books, each one of them causing a _thud _which echoed through the halls. I took threw my bag to the floor - the Mountain Dew inside created a sound of spraying liquid, it had exploded inside my bag.

Again, Blaine let out a cry for help...Nothing. Still, nobody moved.

My stomach dropped at the sight of Kurt's body on the floor -his face drowned in blood.

Several minutes passed before the cannibal was once again only meters away.

"Don't go near it!" Jake commanded.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Ashleigh seemed to be more distressed than Blaine at this moment in time. However nobody responded to Ashleigh's question.

"It looks like a z..." I paused, deciding whether it what okay to call the thing that had killed Kurt something so silly. But before I could change my mind, Blaine completed my sentence "a zombie."

Was it possible? Was this all an act? No. It couldn't be.

Kurt was dead, and now was the time to act.

Blaine ran forward and around the disabled killer. He lept over the trail of blood being given off by the cannibal and burst into History class. I knew something was wrong straight away when no sound came from the classroom. But then, when I thought we were all alone in this catastrophe, Blaine came screaming out, running faster than ever before towards us.

He was screaming something, and at first it was hard to make out. But after several repeats, it hit me. The utter horror.

"They're all dead!"

I don't know what struck me the most: Whether a whole class room of people were supposedly dead, or that we were still alive.

"We have to go now!" Ryder confirmed. Blaine shook his head.

"I'm not leaving Kurt!"

"He's dead!" Ashleigh confronted.

"No, this can't be happening. Why here? Why now!?" Once again, tears fell from Blaine's eyes.

"We can all figure this out later, but for now, we need to go!" This for some reason, made me feel like a leader. But I wasn't, not in this situation anyway.

Now, Ashleigh too, was crying.

The cannibal on the floor was several feet away now.

"We have to get our friends! What about Marley, and Tina, and what about Mr. Shue!?"

Deep down, it was obvious Ryder knew there was a chance they were all dead too.

"Okay here's the plan.." I figured somebody had to take control, and since nobody seemed up for the challenge, it was up to me to find a way out.

The plan was for Ryder and Jake to collect all our friends, while Blaine, Ashleigh and I would get to the parking lot. We would all them get into Blaine's Jeep, drive away and get to our families. For now that's all we had.

For now, that's all that we hoped to achieve.

In moments the group had split in two. Ryder and Jake storming toward the Glee choir room and us three sprinting to the car. After several twists and turns through corridors we made it to the door outside. During the process we scanned classrooms, only to find classes of dead students. Blood splattered everywhere. Bodies on the floor and on desks. During each discovery Ashleigh and Blaine cursed. The only time i yelled out a "Shit" was when I discovered Unique - dead - in Biology.

Ashleigh and I pushed the door open. The light blinded me for a second, causing me to shut my eyes tight. From all round came groans and screams. Haunting yells. The odor of blood stuck to our clothes.

After ten seconds of blindness, my eyes adjusted to the terrifying sight before us.

Scattered through the parking lot were walking, pulling and limping bodies, just like the one from the hallway.

It was now clear... They were zombies.

"How are we going to get to your car, they're everywhere!" Ashleigh questioned aloud.

Blaine responded with "I don't have a fucking clue!"

It was clear that there was no easy route to the black Jeep that was parked at the far end of the car park. At a guess, there were at least a hundred zombies strolling through the lot, chasing after the living.

It was all happening so fast. It was difficult to take in.

After a couple of seconds of viewing, from behind came a groan, then quick paced footsteps. The three of us turned to see Kurt - now one of them - running towards us, despite his clawed leg.

Blaine let out a screech while Ashleigh took cover behind me. His teeth were painted black and blood poured from everywhere on his face.

Then from out of the blue, three gunshots were fired. Each one, implanting a bullet inside Kurt's head. The boy fell to the floor, hitting the ground with a _thump! _

Again the three of us turned back around. Before us stood a tall, black haired, slim woman. She looked like she was in her mid-30s. In each hand she held a large, shining black gun. The woman wore a tight black suit with an odd symbol above her right breast.

Before I could ask she answered my question.

"My names Alice..." she reloaded her left gun abruptly "and we have to get the fuck out of here!"


	4. TOLAF 4: Ashleigh's Diary - Part 1

Dear Diary,

We waited for as long as possible for Jake and Ryder, however they failed to show up. It is possible they are dead, but there is a slight chance they escaped. Blaine, Ben and I all left with the new woman named Alice. Once we left in _her _car, she introduced us to a lady called Claire - who seemed to be a lot younger than Alice. A man named Chris seemed to be the driver, who was taking us to a "safer" destination. Blaine demanded that they take us to our families several times, however the only response he got was "TOLAF, just remember that code"To him, and the rest of the teens, this was new to us. The meaning was too complex for us to understand.

They told us that a school was a very dangerous place to be, and we were lucky to be alive. As they told us how it all began we all sat in the back of a black van- once again, with a weird looking symbol on the side of it. Alice sat opposite me and beside Ben. At the back of the van sat Claire, comforting Blaine who was in utter despair - either due to Kurt's death, or just the whole event.

Alice seemed to know a lot about how the event started. Too much for comfort. And our guesses at the _things _being zombies were correct. They were the undead.

Alice explained how a company named _Umbrella_ in a place called _Raccoon City_ lost control of a virus. It was then i understood what the strange symbols were, they were umbrella's. Red and white.

The virus caused mutations and killed thousands of people, she said it happened in hours. The virus however did not leave the dead dead, they arose from hell and began to attack others. Spreading the virus everywhere.

Alice told us that she escaped and soon came across and girl and her brother. Claire and Chris.

They headed to the school we were in to find Claire's niece, Marley. But it was too late. Once they found us they checked to see if we were infected, and as we weren't we escaped with them.

During the story, several mentions of TOLAF came up. Neither Ashleigh or I dared to question what it meant.

Alice reveled that New York was secure and that's where they were heading. That's where our families would be.

There were no windows in the rear of the van. This disrupted us from seeing the outside world, even the front windshield was darkened so only Chris could see out.

A couple of hours later, after screaming and never ending groans seeping in from the outside, Blaine and Claire eventually came and sat next to us.

"How far left?" Claire questioned.

"TOLAF supposedly begins in forty-eight hours. If we maintain a steady speed, we should make it there in forty-five."

Again, another mention of this TOLAF.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Alice revealed what we had all been thinking. The definition of TOLAF.

"We don't exactly know what it means, but we received a call from an anonymous person in New York. They told us that New York was safe and that we needed to get there by a certain deadline. It could be a hoax but that's all we have to go on now. He said five words. Five words that would either define live or death. And if we didn't make it there before it occurred we would surely die. TOLAF..." She paused.

"The Orange Lights Are Flashing"


	5. TOLAF 5: Beacon Hills - Before and After

"We don't know what that means yet, so don't go asking any questions. All we do know is that most of the US have evacuated there" Alice was cut off by an uproar from Blaine.

"So, our parents might not even be in New York!?" This was the first time i saw Blaine angry. Before he just seemed hurt and depressed, but now his temper had bubbled through him - suddenly exploding like a lava lamp when it hits the right temperature.

Alice turned to Blaine and placed her right hand on his shoulder.

"Look, either they're on their way to New York, already there, or dead. There's nothing we can do until we get there"

That last suggestion from our rescuer caused my stomach to twist. The thought of my family, Ashleigh's family, Blaine's family, being dead struck a nerve. As if someone had just digested a spear through my heart.

The van continued, descending into nothingness from my perspective. Having no windows meant hope was my final option. For all i knew, these people could be the cause of this, kidnappers even?

Once Blaine had calmed down, he soon fell asleep- his head resting on Claire's shoulder. Ashleigh broke the silence. "How'd'we escape from the school so easily, there were hundreds of those things out there!?"

As she spoke I turned to Blaine to see if the question had awakened him, however he was still sound asleep.

"First of all, we call them _Rood's." _This came from Chris, the driver. He had a deep voice, and as he spoke he sounded on edge. As if this was the first time he talked of the event like this, since it had started.

"What?!" Ashleigh replied.

"Rood's - Risen out of death. Alice says that once your bit by one of those things, several minutes later you come back. Hungry for flesh and meat. And once they're gone, they're gone. So all we had to do was drive toward them, killing them completely."

Claire continued. "You might think you have to destroy the brain to kill them. Ya'know, like in the zombie movies - but no, it's basically like they have two lives. The second easier to take than the first."

Alice then concluded. "After I escaped Raccoon City - now filled with millions of Roods - and found Chris and Claire, we discovered an empty gun store. So we raided the place. Took this van. Received the phone call about TOLAF, and headed towards your school."

The last part must have hurt Claire emotionally, she had lost her niece. Subsequently, Blaine had lost his boyfriend. In a way, Ashleigh and I were lucky, only our families were on the line.

The car continued onwards. My eye lids became heavy, there was no strength to keep them apart. After all that had occurred in the past few hours, my body went into hibernation. And soon, I drifted into Oblivion.

_Darkness, all around. No completion of light anywhere. No sense of skin was imprinted on my brain. Only sight and hearing. No body. Just a mind like blur. Drifting through nothingness, two voices conversed from all directions. _

_"Have we got all of them?" A male questioned with a deep voice. _

_"They are all set. All sixteen of them." A female responded, this one with a high pitched voice. _

_"I thought there were more. Much more!?" The male seemed frustrated. _

_"There are, I assure you of that. However the sixteen are the origins. The only one's we need to essay. These are the one's we want. The ones we need to observe." This came from an alien voice, one not familiar. _

_"OK then, ready when you are." Commanded the first male voice. _

_Then, from nowhere, came a god like, electronic female voice. _

_"10...9...8...7...6...5...4..."_

_Behind the staggering voice, the high pitched woman seemed worried "WAIT! Essay four isn't complete! Nooo!" _

_"3..2..1"_

_One final scream came from the high pitched woman and suddenly silence. Again. _

I awoke. Ashleigh asleep to my side, Blaine and Claire in front. There seemed to be sight of Alice, nor Chris. I swiftly arose from the bench pinned to the wall of the truck, and stepped toward the front seat hunched over. As i bent over to take a look outside, I figured we were at another school. One name _Beacon Hills High School. _The oddest thing, didnt seem to be the missing pair, but the vanquish of Roods. There were none to be seen.

I soon found myself walking through the school parking lot, the van full of sleepers behind me. At first my legs crumbled after a few steps, but once stretched, seemed to work fine.

The school looked deserted, even the parking lot was scarce of cars. It was only when I saw two bodies situated at the bottom of the steps to the school that my pace sped up. In seconds I had collided with two - what looked like students - both bleeding from their heads. Both were ginger, one of them looking several years younger than the other. One of them faintly with their eyes open.

"Are you okay!? Were you bit?" The student - on the edge of unconsciousness - moved her lips but nothing came out. After a _pardon? _from me, she spoke again.

"My names Jade. My friend Lydia...she...she was... she was bit by Isaac. But he wasn't a wolf anymore, something...different. Then she bit me." Although none of these names or events sounded familiar, I knew what had happened. She was turning.

Nobody seemed to be around. At this moment in time i figured, Alice and Chris were in the school - possibly looking for supplies.

"I'm gonna stay with you. Just until..." I couldn't seem to find the words. "Just until it's over." However in moments, the second ginger girl had gone. Her eyes puzzle pieced together and the soothing sound of air escaping her nostrils came to a halt. She was dead.

Back on my feet i once again studied the school.

This was not fair, innocent people dying.

Then everything happened so suddenly. Two figures came running out from the entrance to the school. Chris and Alice. During the process, Alice screamed "Get back to the truck!" Behind them, two males followed - neither of them had turned yet. But just before the group reached me, the first dead ginger girl reached out and took hold of my right leg. A haunting groan escaped her. Immediately she implanted her teeth into my leg muscle. It took three shaked and a kick to the face to get her off, this resulting in me falling to the ground, thriving in pain.

An eerie sensation filled my veins. Sweat poured from my head and blood dripped down my ankle. It felt like getting an electric shock all over my body at once. Then i began to shake. An uncontrollable groan came from my mouth. Trying to move caused even more pain in my body. I was paralyzed.

It was hard to hear but somebody shouted _Lydia_ as if they had just lost a friend. Then abruptly I was on Chris's right shoulder. He was no carrying my backwards towards the black van, unaware that I could possibly end up killing him and the rest of the group.

Again pain sizzled through my veins.

Then the sight of hundreds of Roods escaping from the school entrance was made. We were now being chased by death.

That was the final image I saw. The image of Jade, Lydia and hundreds of other students chasing us from behind.

Then, I was snatched into a dark abyss. I was slowly turning into a Rood.


	6. TOLAF 6: The isolated voices

_This time, I could see - not feel however. The complex sensation of the ability to see, hear and smell but not able to touch, confused me. I was sitting in a small abandoned room - empty, apart from myself. The walls were silver and surrounded me on each side apart from one. The wall to my right included a black plated door - oddly with no handle to enter or dismiss yourself. A table stood before me - I was sitting on a brown chair upon this table. Although I was unable to feel my body connect with the chair, my vision told me that it was. _

_What felt like hours, but minutes - I sat at the table, hopelessly staring at the wall opposite me. Nothing occurred for all that time, only alien thoughts of what I had escaped from - what I had survived. _

_I could recall that I was homeless. Alone and afraid upon the streets of Manhattan. Food had been scarce from my insides for three days - only a cup of water allowed me to escape from death. But I was safe now - these people had adopted me into their institute. I had gathered no information at this time - although I did over hear several words from two men in white jackets upon entry into the room. _

_Scenario...TOLAF...Essay four. _

_These words I had encountered before. _

_I was soon stolen from my train of thought when a young man, with blonde hair, wearing a white jacket, holding a notepad and a pen, entered the room._

_"Okay, let's get started. You have a very short period of time before it begins..."_

It was then my vision fell into a daze. Although the man's lips were moving, I was unable to hear. The feeling in my upper body was regained and I soon found myself, once again, drifting through nothingness. Then falling. And finally sitting, upright.

"I think he's waking up" The voice was fresh to me.

"Okay, everybody be prepared. We don't know how ruthless he's going to be" This was Alice. And although I was happy to hear her voice, her topic didn't sound familiar.

"Do you really think the chains are necessary?" Ashleigh.

"Do you want him to kill us?!" A statement from Claire.

At this point, I could tell I was moving - but still stationary. I was located in a van, sitting down. Metal grips were tightly screwed on my wrists and ankles - pain thrived in my lower leg. The electronic sensation before had disappeared. And then I regained my vision.

Before me sat Claire, Alice, Ashleigh, Blaine and someone I had never met before - however I did recognize him.

For a moment I sat staring at the five people, to my right - in the front of the van, sat Chris and again, someone I was unfamiliar with.

"Why isn't he..." Blaine was cut off by Alice.

"That's impossible!"

"Is it possible that, _that _can happen!?" The unfamiliar teenager, with black wavy hair and blue eyes, asked.

"I haven't come across it before" Alice again.

"So that means...he's...no...yes...he's immune?!" Ashleigh followed this with a gasp.

And with that, my eyes once again closed - and again, I fell into darkness.


	7. TOLAF 7: Death Dome - Part 1

The second time I fell into Oblivion nothing was seen, heard or felt. I continuously drifted through emptiness for hours. The division between realities caused a locking pain in my head - however it hurt on physiologically. After hours of drifting I finally arose from my sleep.

"Where am I?" It surprised me that I was able to talk.

"We're still in the Van.." Blaine answered cautiously. I soon discovered that i had been locked up with metal chains to the left side of the van. Each passenger, including two new faces, sat opposite me - each holding a weapon.

"Why am I... Why are you?" It confused me so much, the inception frazzled through my thoughts.

"Okay, I'm just going to explain everything to you. It'll be much easier..." Alice began the story.

"We, Chris and I, pulled up outside Beacon Hills High School. We needed supplies and the school looked empty, so it seemed like a good idea. With you all asleep, we didn't think you would attract much attention. While we were in the school we heard a distinct noise coming from the canteen. Chris stupidly went in only to find thousands of Roods.." Chris interrupted her with a laugh then told her to "Carry on"

"We quickly escaped from the school and on route came across these two..." Alice pointed at the black haired boy to her right and the fresh face in the front.

"Their names are Scott and Stiles. Unfortunately they had lost a few friends..."

The one named Scott put his face in his hands and whispered _Allison. _It didn't take a genuis to figure out that was either his sister or girlfriend.

"...Anyway, on our way out we saw you being bitten by that ginger girl..."

The memories slowly floated back to me. Jade, and the one she called Lydia. The one who bit me. It was at that moment I shook on the grips to try and free myself - blurting out questions like "Am I a Rood!?" and "Let me go!"

Claire failed to calm me down, and even over all the noise, Alice still continued the story.

"Chris didn't want to leave you so he abruptly picked you up and brought you back to the van. In seconds we had escaped and the only thing we could do was to tie you up." She paused. "Just in case"

Just when I thought she had concluded the tale, she pronounced one more sentence. One that changed the whole scenario.

"But it seems that...Your immune to the bite!"

The continuation of the journey was silent. Eventually Alice let me free, now aware that I was in no condition to hurt them. Ashleigh, by my side, often tried to start a conversation, but all I could do was repeat the past events in my head. Every once and a while I noticed that she took a very small diary out of her pocket and wrote in it. Blaine drifted in and out of sleeps, as did Claire. Alice remained still, staring down at the base of the van, thinking possibly? Chris and Stiles often swapped positions, every half-an-hour, one slept while the other drove. Scott fidgeted with his hands as if he was trying to stop anger from escaping him, there was something strange about Scott, something that worried me.

After several tank fill ups and toilet stops, I soon, once again, was snatched back into the previous nightmare.

_Again, no feeling. Only sight and sound. The same room as before. The same man. He sat in a chair opposite me, across the table. _

_"Okay, so you've agreed to all the documents. Taken all the tests and now, in an hour, you'll be all set to go. We understand that you might be in shock at the things you have previously seen, but I assure you, it's all in good nature." He scribbled some notes down on his notepad. _

_"First you will meet the other candidates, only for a few minutes though. Then you will proceed to the GENERATION room. And there you will begin." He paused. "Okay, I think that's it for now. Someone will be here in a minute to come and collect you to get you cleaned up. And remember..." His final pause. "TOLAF isn't true"_

A screaming voice detached me from my dream. My body position was no longer sitting, but lying - however i was no longer in the van. A slight breeze swept over me and through my clothes. Below me was a large metal plate, the size of a small trampoline. Around me I could see trees, lots of trees.

Another scream.

As I arose from my lying position I noticed around ten other people standing on similar plates. This included everyone from the van and a few, un-regonisable, faces. To my right, ten yards away, stood Ashleigh - looking more terrified than ever before. To my right stood another girl, someone new to me. She had long brown hair and was suited in a tight - what looked like water outfit - suit.

Another scream, this came from the brown haired girl, looking down at a patch of grass, recently scorched.

Everyone I knew looked in distress.

"Where are we!?" I yelled across the field we were all located in. The plates of people patterned in a circle, in the center, a large metal container full of bags.

"I don't know!" Alice replied.

"Peeta!" The girl to my right screamed, pointing down at the scorched grass. "They killed him!"

Then my stomach dropped, till now I thought this was a dream - however it wasn't.

I stepped forward, edging the plate.

"Don't it will explode and kill you!" The screaming girl yelled. "Peeta did, and it blew up and killed him!"

Then it happend ever so quick.

I asked the girl who she was, she responded with an abrupt "Katniss!"

Then a booming voice sounded over the field of worried faces. A male's voice. A haunting voice.

"Look, I'm going to keep it short and sweet. With everything going on around here we wanted some fun..." A horrible laugh sounded in the background of the voice.

"We've all placed you in a large dome, spread out several acres. We call you "The Immunes". Honestly we find it unfair, all of you can get bitten by those zombies and still be safe. In thirty seconds you can step off the plate. You'll then have five seconds to get as far away as possible from your point right now before we release a couple of hundred, as you call them, Roods."

The girl named Katniss grunted at the voice and suddenly screamed on top of her voice. "How the fuck did you get us here!?"

"Shut up girl. If you want to know how you got her, we drugged you all with gas. Haha. We've been following you since it started. Anyway, your all going to die. And that's that. Even if you manage to kill all of those _things..._We'll find another way to kill you." The voice paused. During this time I exchanged looks with Ashleigh, Alice and Blaine - Alice being the furthest away from me. There was no indication that this was fake, and with all the previous events, it was hard not to believe it wasn't happening.

Then the voice resumed.

"And now time for the countdown. Haha!"

"10...9...8...7...6...5..."

Ashleigh caught my attention and stated something above the countdown.

"What's going on Ben!?"

I responded with a shrug and a desperate face for escape.

This was it. I had survived this much, and I wasn't going to stop now. This was something crazy - as was the world. It was time to fight. Right down to the final four. It was now or never.

The voice overhead continued the countdown.

"4...3...2...1. Game on!"


	8. TOLAF 8: Death Dome - Part 2

A god-like horn sounded from above, a sound scaring the ear drums of the hopeless people awaiting their fate. Over-head the clouds had turned grey and, what looked like rain, rinsed down the edges of the dome, leaving us bare and dry. My stomach was now in my heart, throbbing for an escape, as I was hoping for an escape of the dome. Although the horn was significant, Ashleigh's cry was overheard as she began to run. As did Alice, Blaine, and everyone else in the field.

One second had passed.

The girl named Katniss ran straight to the center of the circle of plates. It was then I noticed several, orange colored bags lying face down on the grass. In moment, Katniss had ripped one apart and had taken out a crossbow with several arrows. Beside her, Alice raced through another bag. This one presented her with her two black guns from previous events - she seemed surprised by this discovery. Blaine and Ashleigh both rummaged through two bags simultaneous, by the looks on their scarred faces, it was if someone had presented them with an early Christmas gift. Ashleigh was offered a large, staggering knife, while Blaine held a small hand gun.

Three seconds had passed.

The dome above us shimmered in the pressing light through the clouds, lit from peak to cellar. Glimpses of leaves, from trees on the outside, held on tight to the down - as if they were hoping for a way in from the outside lands.

On the other side of the field, two figures dissolved into the tree trunks of the woods and vanished into nothing. That was Scott and Stiles. During this time, Claire and Chris seemed to have occupied themselves with large samurai swords from two of the largest bags.

One second remained.

"Ben...Ben!" Ashleigh caught my attention with her waving arms and eerie scream. This voyaged me out of my daze and awoke me from my thoughts. Still standing on the plate I soon realized I had to find some sort of weapon - the Roods would be released any seconds. My feet took control and drew me too the other, centered in the middle of the plates. Scott and Stiles had disappeared - the only ones who remaind were; Alice, Claire, Blaine, Ashleigh, Chris, myself, Katniss and two others whom I didn't know. The two unknown people were carrying small swords - miniature versions of Chris and Claire's weapons.

Seconds later, I had acquired, like Blaine, a small black handgun.

It then struck me that I had never held a gun before, never in my life. It was heavier than expected and was shaped oddly so that it was difficult to handle. I was hoping it was loaded, or else I was hopeless.

Again, another horn broke me from my mind. As we all stood in a circle, facing outwards, the trees distinguished the calm effect of the woods. They shook more rapidly than ever, shaking ten times faster than natural. My muscles began to tremble, my feet snatching balance away from me.

Everyone was prepared for what was to come. Even if we had no chance...


	9. TOLAF 9: Death Dome - Part 3

The horn descended into quietness. Only the rattling of the trees allowed my heart to beat faster than ever. Beside me, Ashleigh nudged my shoulder.

"Good Luck" She whispered, holding her knife in front of her, ready for battle. Before I could hopefully comfort her and tell her that _Everything would be okay, _hundreds of groans echoed out of the trees into the field.

From all directions.

Then, from out of nowhere, hundreds of Roods ran directly towards us from every direction - some were young while other were old, some had arms missing whereas someone held their arms in front of them, hungry for flesh. Surprisingly my heart steadied and this comforted me. I knew that to be prepared, I had to ready. Ready for death.

Once again the horn sounded, this time the woman's haunting laugh echoed again. They were enjoying watching this, this was sick.

A type of dizziness eluded me, straining my thought pattern and only focusing on how to shoot a gun. The possibility of dying in the next few moments was too confirmed in my mind, however this time the period was different. This was the first actual moment, I could die with no purpose.

Over all the noise from the groans and the never ending footsteps, Alice screeched a word of warning.

"Do it when the time is right..." We waited, and every second the Roods grew closer.

"Wait..." We all took precaution.

The hundreds of Roods had now completely surrounded us, there was no easy escape. The terror on the Roods faces were terrifying - it was as if they had just seen death, eye to eye. Their groans were long and painful, each one louder than the last - maybe it was a desperate call for help, possibly screaming "Help Us!" in their heads?

But now was not the time to think, now was the time to fight - the time to kill. And with that, a final call was heard "Now!"

The blood thrived from all angles, painting our sweaty clothes red. The sickening sensation of it running down your skin made you want to throw up. The smell sickened me even more, it smelt like rotting eggs - mixed with gone-off milk. The feeling was as if worms were spreading across my body, from face to toes - in a matter of moments my clothes were soaked in the red liquid.

The gun before let out _bangs _and _click cli_ck, it astonished me how well i could use the gun. And what surprised me even more was how it never ran out of ammo. Never.

One by one, Roods fell to the ground - luckily tripping up other Roods, making them easier to kill. In the corner of my eye, I saw Ashleigh swinging her knife ever so quick, slashing the necks and chests of oncoming Roods.

Behind came screams from Blaine and Claire - Blaine's sounding more terrified than angry.

All around people shot, slashed, kicked, punched and let out yells.

Although the group seemed to be doing well, keeping Roods from actually accessing our bodies, the oncoming storm never seemed to end.

Where were the controlling, deluded, people receiving these Roods from? How could they have managed to maintain so many in such a short space of time?

Once again I was brought out of my thoughts due to the tip of Ashleigh knife almost slashing my cheek - only leaving a slight scratch. A "Sorry!" was slightly heard over all the commotion.

Then an idea arose in my head. A possible brilliant idea. A fantastic - yet simple - idea.

As I continued shooting down the Roods running toward me I turned to face a blood splattered Ashleigh.

"We need to fight them together - not separately!"

For a slight second, the girl looked confused. But resulted in a nod and thankfully understood what i was saying.

"On the count of three, okay!?" I yelled, hoping for a simultaneous response. Thankfully Ashleigh responded immediately with another nod.

"One..."

I reloaded one final time.

"Two..."

Ashleigh swerved her knife at a perfect angle, resulting in three Roods collapsing to the floor. This was the first sign of hope I had been given all day, cautiously i let out a smile smile.

"Three!"

It all occurred so abruptly and quickly - not to mention smoothly. I shot. Ashleigh stabbed. We both ran a short distance forward into the swarm. I shot. Ashleigh swerved. Again, a few more daunting steps. One final shot. One final swerve and stab - and with that we were out. We had escape from the tsunami of Roods - standing proud on the outside. For a brief moment, a wave of excitement rushed through me. It was now proven we could do this, we _could _defeat these things.

"What now!?" Ashleigh yelled, hopelessly staring into the hungry-for-more crowd.

With out a response I moved swiftly and sharply.

"Give me your knife and belt..." I yelled. However Ashleigh only looked at me with an expression that read _Why the fuck do you want my belt, are you crazy!? _

I repeated my words, and soon Ashleigh handed me her belt and her knife. It was now or never, this plan had to work. Or everyone would die.

I quickly jolted Ashleigh knife into the execution hole of the gun. Then carefully but quickly tied one end of the belt around the trigger.

"What are you doing, that's going to blow us both up!?" Ashleigh shouted - her voice, deluded by the groans of the Roods, unaware of our presence behind them.

Then in a split second I threw the gun, completed with the belt up into the air and as soon as it reached its optimum, yanked the belt down - resulting in the gun scattering into pieces after an extraordinary _bang!_

It had worked.

In moments, every single Rood lost concentration of the defensive group and turned to face Ashleigh and I. With several loud groans, they rushed towards us, leaving their prey behind.

"Run!" Commanded Ashleigh, following that, we did just as she said.

Like cheetahs escaping from hunters, we both dodged, dived and ran past trees - into the ever lasting forest. High above us stood the skyscraper like trees. Swaying back an forth the trees whispered enchantments under the complexity of the dome. Streaks of sunlight burnt through the trunks and pressured onto our face.

We both ran, side by side, not saying a word - just taking breaths whenever possible. Apart from Ashleigh, nobody mattered. For all I knew, they were safer than us at that moment in time.

Behind us came a tidal wave of destruction - groans soared over our heads.

Deadly laughs echoed through the trees from speakers allocated to every third tree trunk.

Neither Ashleigh or myself dared to look back at the swarm of Roods that chased us. Not once.

After several minutes -what felt like days - running from the virus that chased behind, a voice flourished in my head.

_Don't worry. They're all part of TOLAF. The dome. The voices. The Roods - haha, that's a funny name you've given them. Even you Ben, even you. _

The voice soon drifted away like a ghost, however it did not distract me - but something certainly did.

Ahead, about twenty meters, sat two figures on the floor - one kneeling over the other. At first I didn't recognize them, but it soon hit me.

It was the two new ones.

Scott and Stiles.

Seconds later Ashleigh and I were close enough to them to hear what the kneeling one was shouting, Stiles.

"They said..."

A groan interrupted his cry.

"Immune..."

Another groan. Ashleigh, nor me, spoke to one another, we only kept running forward.

"Nooo!"

And soon we discovered what the one named Stiles meant. Horror hit me like a train, pounding into my chest.

There, now only several meters away, knelt Stiles. Beneath him Scott. However Scott looked different. He had hair thriving over most of his face. His teeth were longer and sharper. His eyes glowed bright yellow. He almost looked like a...like a... wolf.

Although that was the strangest things I had encountered yet, it was not what hurt me inside the most.

What did...

Scott wad dead.

But not only dead.

A dead Rood.


End file.
